Oven screen or mat



(No Model.)

J. E. BRUSO. OVEN SCREEN 0R MAT.

No. 474,364. Patented May 10, 1 892.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

JOHN E. BRUSO, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

OVEN SCREEN OR MAT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 474,364, dated May 10, 1892.

Application filed June 18,1891. Serial No. 396,736. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, JOHN E. BRUSO, a citizen of theUnited States, residingat Worcester, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Oven Screens or Mats, of which the following is a specification.

The aim of this invention is to produce a new and improved oven-mat and also a device that may be used as an oven-screen. When used as a mat, one or more leaves are simply placed on the floor of the oven and the pan placed on top of the same. This will prevent the bot-tom of the pan from being unduly heated by conduction. WVhen used as a screen, one or more leaves are placed so as to shield the loaf of bread or other article to be baked, so as to replace the papers now ordinarily used by the housewife.

By using a screen fashioned after myinvention the article to be baked is subjected to a much more even temperature throughout and is evenly baked both on the top and the bottom.

The objects of my invention, then, are to produce a device which may be used as an improved oven-mat, and, further, which may be also used as a screen which shall fully protect the article, which shall be easy of manufacture, and a device which, when a number of leaves are used, may be folded into small compass, so as to be readily carried about and stored and packed in small space.

To these ends the invention consists of the improved mat and screen described and claimed in this specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a cookingstove, showing my device in use as a screen. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the article as it appears in use as a two-leaf screen. Fig. 3 is an enlarged section of one of the leaves, taken on line :1: a: of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 shows the device folded together, and Fig. 5 is a view showing a single leaf that may be used as an oven-mat.

The construction of asingle leaf will be first described. The same consists of a metallic back A, and on this back is placed the face B, made of any suitable non-conducting material, preferably asbestus.

This asbestus face B is made smaller than the back A, and the two are held together at the ends by the strips 0 G, which are doubled over the same, and similar strips D D hold the back and the face together on the sides. These strips are prick-punched in at the corners, as shown,so as to stay in place. The asbestus face 131 is smaller than the back A, and the strips 0 and D loosely hold the same. Thus the face has a slight play independent of the back. The object of this construction is to prevent the brittle asbestus face B from being warped or broken, as the back expands when the device is placed in the oven and contracts when the device is removed from the influence of the heat, as asbestus does not expand under the influence of heat. A Wire-gauze face E may be also placed over the asbestus face B and held by the strips 0 and D, as shown. The wire-gauze is useful in that it prevents the asbestus face B from flaking off and in that it prevents injury to the same when the device is used as a mat and heavy pans placed on the same.

As thus far described the leaf may be used as a mat or as ascreen; but where the device is to be used principally as a screen two leaves are preferably used. These leaves are hinged together, as at a a, by detachable hinges, so that the leaves may be separated for separate use. The leaf that is to cover the top of the pan has suitably pivoted to its forward edge the supporting-rods b b. One or more suitable bases F are provided to support the other leaf. These bases have slots, in which the leaf is caught, and the same also have the projecting tapered feet f f. These feet form rests upon which one side of the pan may be supported, and thus allow the hot air to circulate below as well as above the pan. These supports also have the projections e, which prevent the pan from coming in contact with the screen. The device is shown in use in-a stove H in Fig. 1 protecting a pan G.

The device thus made may be folded together, as shown in Fig. 4:, and thus packed in small compass. The size and shape of the leaves may be varied to adapt the device to the stove or to the article that is to be baked without departing from the scope of my invention, and the shape of the base or support may be altered to suit the exigencies of the location, as is readily seen. Thus I provide an improved oven mat or screen.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An oven screen or mat constructed with a metallic back and an asbestos face smaller than the said back, and the retaining-strips holding the same together, the whole so ar ranged that the back can expand and contract without warping or breaking the asbestus face, substantially as described.

2. An ovenscreen or mat composed of a metallic back, an asbestus face, and a wiregauze face over the-asbestus face, and means for holding the same together, substantially as described.

3. An oven screen or mat constructed with a metallic back and an asbestus face smaller than said back, and a wire-gauze face over said asbestus face, and the retaining-strips holding the same together, the whole soarranged that the back can expand and contract without warping or breaking the asbestus face, substantially as described.

4. An oven -screen consisting of the two parts hinged together, one or more supports for the same, and the hinged supporting-rods on the frontof one of said parts, substantially as described.

5. An oven-screen or similar article consisting of the two leaves hinged together and one or more supports for the same, having the tapered projecting ledge for supporting the pan,

. substantially as described.

6. An oven-screen or similar article consisting of the two leaves hinged together, the bases for the same, having the tapered projecting ledges, and the guards or projections e, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of the two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN E. BRUSO. Witnesses:

LOUIS W. SOUTHGATE, J AMES J. RAFFERTY. 

